Setting Boundaries With a Drug Addict

When someone close to you needs to go to a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics, it can be difficult to know how to set appropriate boundaries. That’s because for an addict, drugs or alcohol is the most important thing. Feeding the need for drugs and alcohol is even more important to an addict than meeting the needs for food, water or shelter. For the addict, drugs and alcohol will always be more important than their relationships with friends and loved ones – at least, they will until the addict gets help from a rehab for drug addicts.

What can you, as the friend or loved one of an addict, do? While you can’t force your addicted friend or loved one to seek addiction help, healthy, strong boundaries can protect you from the emotional fallout of watching your loved one crash and burn. Good boundaries can also help you refrain from enabling the addict in your life, so that he or she might be more likely to eventually acknowledge the need to enter a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics.

You Can’t Help Others Without First Helping Yourself

If you’re like many people watching a friend or loved one struggle with addiction, you probably want to do anything you can to help. Most people balk at the idea of setting limits with an addicted friend or loved one; they feel guilty for withholding whatever the addict might demand, whether that be time, money or practical assistance.

Believe us when we say that you’re not betraying your friend or loved one by setting healthy boundaries. Setting boundaries protects you from being taken advantage of, and keeps you healthy so that you can offer whatever assistance and support is within your means to provide. Without strong boundaries, you’ll soon find that you’re of little use to anyone, least of all yourself.

Decide Where Your Boundaries Are

When someone you love needs addiction help, it’s important that you decide what behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable. Study your interactions with the addicted person over the course of a few weeks or a month, and write down the behaviors that bother you.

A person who needs to go to a rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics may not behave very well, even towards those he or she has professed to love in the past. Don’t take it personally; it doesn’t mean your addicted friend or loved one doesn’t love you anymore. It just means that his or her addiction has taken over and is dictating his or her behavior. Your addicted loved one may be rude to you, make degrading remarks, be late frequently or even become abusive.

Take your time making this list; many behaviors from a person in need of rehab for drug addicts can fall into an ambiguous grey area where you’re not sure if they are tolerable or not. You need to be certain that you’re setting the right boundaries, because changing them later will only make you look like a person who can be pushed around, and the addict will seize on any weakness you show. In the process of making your list, take note of any frequent or recurring arguments you find yourself having with the addict.  Later on, you will want to sidestep these disputes as they arise.

Establish Consequences During Rehab for Drug Addicts

Once you’ve decided where your boundaries are, you’re going to need to enforce them. The first time your addicted loved one does something that violates your boundaries, let him or her know, and advise him or her that there will be consequences the next time it happens. These consequences shouldn’t be designed to punish the addict, but to protect yourself and stop any enabling behaviors.

For example, if you decide that you’ll no longer tolerate lateness, then an appropriate consequence could be to wait 15 minutes and then carry on with whatever you were doing without the addict. If you set a boundary around money and the addict violates it by, for example, withdrawing money from a joint checking account without permission or spending money earmarked for another purpose on drugs, an appropriate consequence would closing the account and opening another that does not bear the addict’s name, or refusing to give the addict any more money. Consequences such as these minimize the damage the addict is able to do to your own life, while hopefully encouraging him or her to see the need to enter a rehab for drug addicts.

If you or someone you love is struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, our rehab for drug addicts and alcoholics can help.

Call The Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679.

Five Tips for Living with Dual Diagnosis

Living with a dual diagnosis – a substance abuse disorder and a mental illness – is tough. At 12-Step recovery support groups, you’ll be told that you can’t be sober and take antidepressants or other “mood altering” drugs. You’ll face twice as much stigma, since you’re both an addict and mentally ill. But you can’t recover from your substance abuse disorder unless you also receive treatment for your mental illness, and you can’t recover from your mental illness unless you also receive treatment for your substance abuse disorder. You need treatment for both. Even after you get treatment, living with a dual diagnosis can be much more difficult than living with a single diagnosis. The professionals at our dual diagnosis treatment center have put together these tips to help you cope.

1) Seek Treatment from an Accredited Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center

Substance abuse disorders and mental health problems are best treated together. When you seek help from a dual diagnosis treatment center, like the Delray Center for Healing, you’ll get integrated treatment from a team of professionals working together to care for you mentally, physically and emotionally. Your condition is best treated by a team consisting of a substance abuse specialist, a mental health clinician and a psychiatrist. Many mental health professionals don’t have experience treating addiction, and many addiction specialists don’t have experience treating other mental illnesses. A team of specialists working together in a dual diagnosis treatment center knows what you’re up against and how to best combat it.

2) Educate Yourself About Your Diagnoses

When you enter treatment for a substance abuse disorder, you need to educate yourself about addiction so you can understand what lies ahead in the treatment process and what challenges you’ll face. The same goes for your mental illness. The time you spend receiving treatment in a dual diagnosis treatment center is an excellent opportunity for you to learn everything there is to learn about your mental health problem, your substance abuse disorder, how each disorder is treated, how the two disorders play off of and exacerbate one another, how they influence your personality, beliefs and self-image, and what challenges you can expect moving forward.

3) Participate Fully in Your Treatment

The specialists at your dual diagnosis treatment center can’t help you if you won’t help yourself. Participate fully in your treatment program. Be honest about your readiness and willingness to change, so that your treatment team can design a plan that meets your needs. Attend group therapy – it’s a great opportunity to learn how to make healthy choices, practice your problem solving skills, learn to avoid the temptation to use or drink, and learn how you can avoid high-risk situations. Your group therapy experience can help you learn to trust others and can strengthen your social skills through the sharing of experiences and emotional support. The support you receive from other members of your therapy group is invaluable to your success in treatment.

4) Take Good Care of Yourself Physically

Poor nutrition, sleep deprivation and lack of exercise can have a profound effect on your mental health and mood. If you’ve been abusing drugs and alcohol heavily for a long time, you’re probably suffering from malnutrition and other physical problems. Your dual diagnosis treatment will involve an exercise regimen and nutritional therapy that could include the use of vitamins. If you’re not sleeping well, let your treatment team know – adequate sleep is important to your overall wellbeing, so if you’re sleeping poorly, you might need medication or other therapies to help, at least for a time. Make sure you follow your treatment team’s nutritional and other health guidelines. Even after you leave the treatment center, you need to stay vigilant when it comes to eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep.

5) Get Support

You may find that some 12-Step support groups frown on the use of medication in people who are recovering from a substance abuse disorder, even if those people need medication to manage the symptoms of a mental illness. If you find yourself in such a group, not to worry; attitudes vary from one group to the next, and you can always find another support group.

You should also educate your family and friends about what it means to have a dual diagnosis. Help them understand the challenges you face and let them know what they can do to help you meet those challenges. Surround yourself with people who support your recovery and encourage you to make healthy decisions.

If you need help for a dual diagnosis, a dual diagnosis treatment center is the best place to provide it.

Call the Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679 to learn more about our programs.

How to Throw a Party When One (or More) of Your Guests Is in Outpatient Alcohol Rehab

Summer is upon us, and that means barbecues, beach parties and other social events. Entertaining often revolves around alcohol. But what if someone in your family or circle of friends is going through outpatient alcohol rehab? You want to support this person’s recovery, and welcome him or her at your gatherings, but how can you do so without subjecting your friend or loved one to the temptation to drink?

It’s helpful to remember that many recovering alcoholics have no problem hanging around with others who are consuming alcohol responsibly. As long as you follow these rules of thumb, everyone can have a good time at your social event.

Let Guests in Recovery Know That Alcohol Will Be Served in Advance

If you know that one of your party guests is going through outpatient alcohol rehab, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to refrain from serving alcohol to your other guests. But it’s polite to let your recovering friend or loved one know in advance that alcohol will be served at the party. That way, he or she can decide whether or not he or she feels up to such a situation. Your recovering friend can also plan an escape route from the situation if he or she begins to feel overwhelmed by the presence of others consuming alcohol.

Consider Hosting a Dry Event

Of course, if you want to make your party a dry event, you certainly can. If you’re concerned that people will be upset about the absence of alcohol at your party – if you suspect they might expect it – you can try a couple of strategies to make the absence of booze go over more smoothly. You might consider emphasizing that the event is family-friendly; encourage your friends to bring their children and provide kid-friendly activities. When children are around, most people are okay with not drinking. Alternatively, you could plan the party for the middle of the day; most people won’t expect booze to flow freely at a lunchtime event.

Don’t Make a Fuss Over Your Loved One Being in Outpatient Alcohol Rehab

If a guest at your party isn’t drinking because he or she is going through outpatient alcohol rehab, don’t make a big deal out of it. There are lots of reasons people might choose not to drink on a particular occasion. Sometimes people don’t want to drink because they’re on a diet, they’re taking antibiotics or they have to drive. There’s no reason to broadcast to everyone that your friend or loved one is going through outpatient alcohol rehab. If your recovering friend or loved one wants others at the party to know that he or she is in recovery, he or she will make that decision for him or herself.

Do Offer Non-Alcoholic Drinks

It may go without saying, but your recovering friend or loved one will appreciate some non-alcoholic drink options – and so might others at your party. Make sure you have plenty of soda, water, juice and other options available.

Let People Know Which Foods Are Prepared with Alcohol

If you’re serving a dish that is cooked with alcohol, it might not be an issue. Foods made with alcohol are okay for people going through outpatient alcohol rehab as long as they are cooked long enough to eliminate the alcohol content. Your friend or loved one may not mind eating such a dish. Of course, there’s a chance he or she might not feel comfortable eating foods prepared with alcohol, even if they don’t contain any actual alcoholic content. You should provide another option.

If you’re serving foods with uncooked alcohol, your friend or loved one will want to avoid those. Let him or her know which foods contain uncooked alcohol so he or she can avoid them.

Invite Other Sober Friends

Plenty of people don’t drink, for a whole host of reasons. Invite some other sober people to your party so your friend or loved one who is going through outpatient alcohol rehab won’t feel left out because everyone else is drinking. Your recovering friend or loved one will feel more comfortable if he or she isn’t the only one reaching for more soda. He or she will probably also appreciate the opportunity to get to know some other sober people and make new connections that can serve him or her well going forward.

If you or someone you love is struggling with alcoholism, you don’t have to drop everything to go away to inpatient rehab for weeks on end. Outpatient alcohol rehab can help you get sober without shirking your other responsibilities.

Call 888-699-5679 to learn more.

Five Reasons to Quit Using Heroin and Get Suboxone Therapy

If you’re addicted to heroin or other opiates, you’re not the only one – one million Americans are struggling with opiate addiction today, and as many as one-fifth of those are addicted to heroin. Those numbers are on the increase, and with tragic consequences for many addicts and the families they leave behind when they suffer overdose. If you’re addicted to heroin, prescription painkillers, morphine, fentanyl, or other opiate drugs, here are five reasons to get Suboxone therapy today.

Risk of Disease

The health effects of heroin itself aren’t the only dangers that should make you seriously consider entering Suboxone therapy. If you inject heroin, you’re in serious danger of contracting hepatitis C (HCV) or HIV, two potentially deadly diseases that spread through contact with blood and bodily fluids. If you share needles or other equipment, you could contact one or both of these diseases or spread them to someone else.

While recovery from heroin addiction is possible, you can never get rid of HCV or HIV. But entering Suboxone treatment can prevent you from catching one of these incurable and deadly diseases.

Long-Term Health Effects

Long-term users of heroin can suffer from a range of problems associated with use of the drug. These can include collapsed veins, serious infections of the heart lining or valves of the heart, chronic constipation, kidney disease, liver disease and gastrointestinal cramping. These complications can be just as deadly as overdose or infectious diseases associated with heroin use.

It’s not just the drug itself that’s toxic, however. Heroin is illegal – that means it isn’t regulated by the FDA or any other governing body. Dealers can cut the drug with whatever they want, to expand their supply and make more money. And they don’t particularly care if the ingredients they add to the drug are bad for human consumption. These toxic additives can cause damage to the lungs, brain, kidneys and liver, clog blood vessels and lead to permanent disability or death. The sooner you enter Suboxone therapy, the less likely you’ll be to encounter dangerous tainted heroin.

Fertility Consequences

If you’re a woman using heroin, you should enter Suboxone therapy as soon as possible, before you get pregnant. Using heroin while pregnant can cause miscarriage, and it can also be a contributing factor in other complications like low birth weight and developmental delays. Pregnant heroin addicts don’t tend to keep up with their prenatal care as well as they ought and often subject both themselves and their babies to poor nutrition.

Furthermore, your baby could be born with an opiate addiction of his or her own, and suffer from neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a serious medical condition which requires hospitalization. If you’re still using heroin when your baby is born, you could lose your baby. If you’re already pregnant, entering Suboxone therapy can reduce your risk of pregnancy complications, improve your baby’s birth weight, reduce his or her NAS symptoms and lower the risk that he or she will suffer from developmental delays as a result of your drug use during pregnancy. The sooner you enter Suboxone therapy, the better your baby’s chances of living a normal life will be – and the better your chances of being a normal parent.

Prison Time

Using heroin is a crime – and by some estimates, as many as 80 percent of the people incarcerated in U.S. prisons are doing time for a drug-related offense. And going to jail once doesn’t guarantee that you won’t go back again – most people who go to jail for a drug-related crime end up going back to jail for another drug-related crime, even if they managed to stay clean while in jail. If you don’t want to do time, enter Suboxone treatment as soon as possible.

Avoid Acute Withdrawal Syndrome with Suboxone Therapy

Acute withdrawal syndrome – the excruciating physical and mental symptoms you begin to endure when you start to go into heroin withdrawal – is enough to keep most addicts hooked. But with Suboxone therapy, you don’t have to endure withdrawals. Buprenorphine will relieve your withdrawal symptoms so you can get back to living a normal life right away.

If you or someone you love is struggling with an addiction to heroin or other opiates, Suboxone therapy can help.

Call us today at 888-699-5679 to learn more.

The Introvert’s Guide to Outpatient Drug Rehab

An introvert is someone who feels drained by the company of others, and needs to take time alone regularly to recharge. Being introverted isn’t the same as being shy or suffering from social anxiety; both introverts and extroverts can struggle with social anxiety and shyness. If you’re in recovery, you may feel shy and anxious about making new friends or sharing your story in 12-Step meetings, but that’s normal no matter what your personality type. As an introvert, inpatient rehab may not be the best choice for you. Sharing a room with one or more other recovering addicts can make you feel drained and hostile and distract you from your recovery goals. Outpatient drug rehab may be the best option for the introvert in recovery.

Use Your Natural Strengths

As an introvert in recovery, you’ll be able to take advantage of your natural strengths to achieve recovery goals that your extroverted peers will struggle with. For example, self-reflection comes more naturally to introverted people, and this will help you throughout your recovery as you come to terms with the causes of your substance abuse disorder. You may already be more self-aware than your extroverted peers, and you’ll find it easier to reflect on the material that will be presented to you in outpatient drug rehab and apply it to your life and situation.

You’ll also find it easier than your extroverted peers to break off contact with old drugging and drinking friends or loved ones who aren’t supportive of your recovery. It’s not that introverts don’t need friends and companions; it’s just that they’re not as dependent on them for happiness. You’ll be less vulnerable to peer pressure and have some natural resistance to relapse.

As you progress through outpatient drug rehab, you’ll find that using meditation and other spiritual tools comes more easily to you than it might to your extroverted counterparts. As an introvert, you’ll be able to draw more heavily on your inner resources in order to rebuild your life free of drugs and alcohol. Of course, that doesn’t mean you won’t need to do the work necessary to reestablish a sober social network.

Practice Socializing in Therapy

It’s normal for every recovering addict to be nervous about his or her social skills – it’s not just introverts who fear that they won’t have anything to talk about with a sober person for longer than a few minutes. This is especially true if you also happen to be shy or suffer from social anxiety; even if you don’t, you may feel that you have less experience socializing than others who are more extroverted.

You can take advantage of your time in outpatient drug rehab to express these fears and concerns to your therapist during one-on-one counseling. Your therapist may help you practice making small talk about politics, the news, musical tastes or TV programs. He or she can also help you build up your confidence with socializing “homework,” or by discussing times in the past when you’ve successfully made new friends.

Don’t Skip Group Therapy in Outpatient Drug Rehab

As an introvert, you may also worry about sharing in a group therapy setting during outpatient drug rehab. Group therapy and recovery support groups are important – they help you learn to trust others again and help exercise rusty social skills. If you’re nervous about sharing with the therapy group in outpatient drug rehab, or with a recovery support group in the community, you can rehearse your story with your therapist ahead of time. If you’re an introvert, you may want to ease into participation in 12-Step meetings – there’s no obligation for you to share in every meeting or at your first meeting. You can attend as many meetings as you want before you share your story.

It’s Quality, Not Quantity

While the extroverts of the world might have you believe that you need a lot of friends in order to be happy, in truth you can be just as happy and healthy with a few friends, as long as they’re the right ones. In choosing your sober social network, don’t feel like you need to make friends with people you don’t like and enjoy. Don’t be afraid to pick and choose the friends who mean the most to you – and you can look outside of your 12-Step meetings and drug rehab peers, for friends at church, in volunteer organizations, at night classes, and so forth.

No matter what your personality type, outpatient drug rehab can help you live a better life. Call 888-699-5679 today.